Local volleyball teams wrap up season

Times Reporter

 

The South Central volleyball Zone Championships took place Nov. 18 and 19, with teams from Strathmore and Wheatland County travelling to compete for their spot. 

The Strathmore High School JV girls Spartans took off to Canmore for their tournament. In the first match they played the home team. Coach Jerry Flaws said the girls had a bad case of nerves, and they could not beat about the well-supported Canmore team. 

The girls relaxed between games and were able to come out strong against George Macdonald from Airdrie. It was a steady fight to the semi-final game for the girls, who never gave up. Flaws said the semi-final game against Foothills Composite was exciting and entertaining. 

The Spartans lost a close one and were placed in the bronze medal game, said Flaws. 

Next up they were against Holy Trinity Academy from Okotoks, and Flaws said like all of their matches against them this year it went to the third game. 

The Spartans lost with a score of 15-12, placing fourth in the South Central Zone Championship. This season the team has played in five tournaments, winning two gold medals, two silvers and one bronze. They also won the Foothills League Championship banner.  

“The girls are not just good athletes, they are dedicated to their sport,” said Flaws. 

The Standard Rams Senior girls volleyball team had a chance to advance to their South Central Zone Championships after placing second in Acme at the East Regional Zones. The girls were in Delia for their championship where they came second in their pool. 

The team, made up of three grade 9 students, two grade 11’s and four grade 12’s, faced Acme in the semi-final game and lost, putting them out of the running for provincials this year. 

In the bronze medal game the girls went up against Morrin, but it just wasn’t meant to be and the team wound up with fourth place in the 1A zones this year. 

 “It feels very odd as this is the first time in eight years that we have not been preparing to head to provincials,” said coach Susan Moncks. 

“We showed some really great improvement over the course of the season, but this weekend was just not ours.”

Darren Perizzolo, head coach of the Holy Cross Collegiate Hawks Junior and Senior Varsity Women’s teams said they had a fairly good season this year, finishing with two-second place, and two third place finishes at tournaments this year. 

“We had a tough Friday night in zones and very strong Saturday morning. Unfortunately due to the losses the night before, we were knocked out of the tournament after the round robin,” said Perizzolo.

Jr A Hawks volleyball coach Nicole Cordes had implemented a new strategy this year, and said overall the girls had a strong year and showed an understanding of the 6-2 system by the end of the season. 

“Our Zone playoff went quite well.  We finished third in our pool and lost our quarter final match which went to three very close games,” said Cordes.

“All of our games were extremely close with a few of our games going to 24-26 final scores. The girls were communicating well and rarely missed a serve; really it was anyone’s Zone as all teams were very evenly matched.  I told the girls that ending the season like that was something to be proud of, we were definitely competitive.”